It's been quite an adventure . . .

Monday 11 February 2013

They say love affairs can break your heart and mine nearly did but I'm not giving up on it because I have hundreds of thousands of allies who are on my side and that of my loved ones.

Andy Cameron takes in Rangers' Ramsdens Cup tie at Falkirk with Craig Levein. Picture: SNS

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Andy Cameron

It has been going since 1945, when I saw my love for the first time. Sitting on my Uncle Joe's shoulders as Rangers played the great Dynamo Moscow, it was love at first sight. I have had a love affair with this great club for more than 67 years.

Yes, we've had our ups and downs, and one year ago on St Valentine's Day might have been the end of it but for the aforementioned allies. What they have done in the last 12 months has kept us all together and, as the slogan says: Rangers Then, Rangers Now, Rangers Forever.Our detractors love to refer to us as Newco. Well, I've been called worse things but as far as I'm concerned I still wear a Rangers scarf, buy a Rangers season ticket and sing Rangers songs; one of which says I'm Rangers 'til I die.When The Chancer decided to put "The Company" into administration on February 14 last year, as he'd done with 19 other companies before, he thought it would be a "five-day wonder". Little did he know he wasn't putting a "company" into trouble but a Scottish institution. Rangers Football Club means so much to people all over the planet and The Chancer didn't know that. He was asked if he'd always been a Rangers fan and answered: "Oh yes, my father brought me here when I was 11 and 12."A journalist asked "Who were your favourite players?""Oh," said The Chancer. "I don't remember names."WHIT? Rangers supporters can tell you the names of players who turned out for all the other clubs in Scotland, as well as the names of their heroes.Those allies I referred to have kept the club alive, starting with the Rangers Fans Fighting Fund which lit the fire that means 45,000 bluenoses turn up at Ibrox for home games against East Stirlingshire, Stirling Albion, Elgin City and Queen's Park. With all due respect to the aforementioned, those clubs are not Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. On the other side of the coin we are filling these wee grounds to capacity and more if Elgin City are dispensing the tickets, and we have been a financial bonus to all the clubs in the third division of the Scottish Football League.In short, we are saving a lot of Scottish football clubs from going out of business. What does the rest of Scottish football do to us for this service? They have meeting after meeting to think up new ways to kick us.The novelty of visiting places such as Peterhead and Montrose is wearing thin and if reconstruction leaves us in the bottom tier next season I fear it will take a lot longer to get back to the top. Yes, we've embraced this adventure and Rangers supporters have been magnificent on the road in places such as Berwick where, when I saw the hullabaloo as the players warmed up, I fully expected them to wheel out the gala queen for Ally McCoist to put a crown on her head.Of course, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and we have been delighted to see that Murray Park is producing young players who have shown that with a few experienced and talented pros beside them can make it as Rangers players. Lewis Macleod, Barrie McKay, Robbie Crawford, Kyle Hutton and Fraser Aird have all come in and encouraged us for the future.We have accepted the punishment handed down to us since St Valentine's Day last year, and there might be more to come with reconstruction, but we soldier on with Ally and his staff on time with the resurrection of our club. Realistically, winning the Irn-Bru Third Division title was all we could hope for this season. Ally has achieved that, so let's look forward from St Valentine's Day this year to a continuing love affair with Rangers Football Club and a wee Valentine message: Roses are red, Violets are blue, 'Til the day that we die Rangers FC, We'll always love you. anDY CAMERON It's been quite an adventure -

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It's been quite an adventure . . .

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